





















> 







> 

- 






- 












> 



»* 

- 






"* ^ 



^ 






.-3 S % 







v 



^ V 






A 



ADDEESS 



ON THE 



IFE AND CHAR 'AC TEE 



OF 



ANDREW WYLIE, D. I)., 



/ 



THEOPHILUS PARVIN, M. 1) 



INDIAN APOLLS : 

CAMERON & M'NEELY, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS. 

1858. 



I - 



ADDRESS 



ON THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTEK 



or 



ANDREW WYLIE, D. D. 



LATE PRESIDENT OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY, OF INDIANA. 



DELIVERED BEFORE 



THE ALUMNI OF THE UNIVERSITY, 



THEOPHILUS PAR V IN, M. IX, 



OF INDtANAPOLIS, INtflANA, 



JULY 14th, 1858, AT bloomington. 






i. 



INDIANAPOLIS: 

CAIVIKRON k m'nEELY, BOOK AND JOB PJUNTEtiS, 

1858, 



,J fa 



CORRESPONDENCE, 



Bloomington, July 14, 1858. 
THEOPHILUS PARVIN, M. P., 

Dear Sir : 

At a meeting of the Alumni, of 
Indiana University, the undersigned were appointed a committee, to ex 
press to you the high pleasure afforded the Society by the able and inter- 
esting address delivered by yourself, this day, commemorative of the Life 
and Character of the late Andrew Wylie, D. D,; and also to solicit a copy 
of the same for publication, 

We take great pleasure in performing the duty assigned us, and beg 
leave to assure you, of the high estimation in which your character and 
talents are held by the Society, and by the citizens of Bloomington. ' 
Very Respectfully, 

LEWIS BOLLMAN, 
J. G M'PHEETERS, 
M. M. CAMPBELL, 
R. C. FOSTER, 
JAS. MITCHELL. 



Indianapolis, July 18th, 1858, 
GENTLEMEN: 

The Address is at your disposal. No one can be more sensible 
than its author of its literary imperfections, and of its incompleteness; 
but if it gives any a juster estimate of the character of our honored In- 
structor, or does aught to perpetuate the memory of him whom we all ad- 
mired and reverenced, I shall be content, 

I thank you most heartily for your expression of regard and esteem, 
and shall ever gratefully cherish the memory of the kindness shown me by 
my brethren of the Alumni, and by the citizens of Bloomington. 

Yours, truly, 

THEOPHJLUS PARVIN. 
To Messrs, Bollman, M'Pheeters, Campbell, Foster, and Mitchell. 



ADDEESS 



Alma Mater welcomes her sous to their former home. 
And I would wrong the present members of her house- 
hold — her honored Faculty and true Students, — I would 
wrong the generous citizens of Bloomington, did I not 
declare that they all unite in a kindly greeting. Turn in 
hither for a day, Pilgrim. Lay aside thy staff; with 
nnsandaled foot tread once more this hallowed ground, 
and drink again from the fountain of thy youth. Come, 
O Soldier. Let the battle wage to-day, and no shout of 
thine be heard, no blow of thine be struck amid the tu- 
mult of the world's strife ; participating this fraternal re- 
union, evoking long-buried and precious memories, pledg- 
ing; anew devotion to Truth, Learning;, and Rig'ht, thou wilt 
go forth to-morrow, stronger, and better for this rest and 
rejoicing. We come, we come from the struggles, the 
defeats and the victories, the joys and the sorrows — those 
bright and dark threads of which the web and woof of 
human existence are woven, — we come, Alma Mater, 
tlic baptism of thy name upon ns, to thy outstretched 
arms and throbbing heart. We differ in life-associations 
and enjoyments; we differ in objects of desire, and results 
of effort, — some bear well-earned laurels; others wear 
" that little flower called heart's ease; 1 ' still others arc 
girding their loins for a glorious race ; we differ in years, 
some in the flush of youthful vigor and hope, others in 
the meridian of manhood, and still others, perchance, up- 
on whose heads age is sprinkling snow, and upon whose 



[fl] . 

faces she is writing wrinkles ; we differ in life-experien- 
ces, — but we are assembled to-day, animated by a spirit 
which rises superior to the accidents, the differences and 
the surroundings of each individual life— we are breth- 
ren, and unite in joyful thanksgiving. 

It is meet that this annual assembling of the Alumni, 
and the Commencement, should occur when external Xa- 
ture presents so much to charm the sense and cheer the 
heart. ' The Heavens with their golden sunshine, the 
goodly Earth clothed with rich verdure, and glad with 
summer song and summer harvest, smile a blessing upon 
man. "What more auspicious moment for the mariner to 
weigh anchor and turn his prow to the open sea, than 
when the sun shines in summer glory from a cloudless 
sky ? And staunch, trim crafts, freighted with golden 
hopes, to-morrow weigh anchor and commence their return- 
less voyage upon the ocean of life. God guard them 
when the starless night and winter storm come. 

What fitter time than this for mutual counsel and com- 
fort, for the relation of personal experiences, the revival of 
generous affections, the excitement of fresh hope and firm 
faith ! The harmonies of Nature are in unison with the 
nobler emotions of our hearts ; and the season brings new 
confirmation of our trust in Him who sends the early and 
the latter rain, the seed time and the harvest ; whose pow- 
er and goodness are manifest in the germinating seed and 
bursting bud of Spring, and in the green forest and gold- 
en grain field of Summer. Thus trusting Him, we will 
have more love and faith for our fellow man. 

But a cloud partially obscures the light of this clay; a 
voice of sorrow mingles in our song of thanksgiving — the 
cypress is in the wreath we weave. Many of our College 
companions and friends, have finished the pilgrimage- 
have fought the battle of life, and gone to their reward. 
Green be their graves, and precious their memories ever- 
more. Nor can I forbear to pay a passing tribute unto 
one recently deceased, whom many of us knew as an in- 
structor in the University, and who was admired and loved 



m 

by all wliose privilege it was really to know him. Bet* 
ter, probably, than any one who hears me to- clay, did I 
know his history, his manner of life, and his heart. He 
Was a poor orphan boy, bound to a country farmer, his 
term of service expiring when he was seventeen; then 
the village pastor,* who still lives venerable with years, 
but active in labors, rich in benevolence, noticing the ex- 
traordinary richness of intellect and excellence of char- 
acter possessed by the youth, took him into his family for 
instruction. His progress in study was extraordinarily 
rapid — in a very short time he was thoroughly prepared 
for commencing a college course; he then entered Jeffer- 
son College, and though in good measure dependent 
upon his own exertions for support, graduated in a large 
class with the first honor. Thenceforth his wdiole life was 
consecrated mainly to teaching, though somewhat engaged 
at times in pulpit ministrations. He was indefatigable in 
study; he was a man of the strictest integrity, of the no- 
blest benevolence, of the tenderest sensibilities ; he was 
charitable, too charitable in his views of men's characters 
and conduct. No more precious ashes mingle with the 
soil of generous, appreciative Kentucky, than those of the 
accomplished Scholar, the warm-hearted Christian Gen- 
tleman, Alfred Eyors. 

Nor are these the only griefs which the occasion suggests 
to many of us. lias it not occurred to some one of you, 
my friends, to return to his early home after many years' 
absence, finding a chair at the family altar vacant, a gold- 
en link in the family circle gone ? .The massive trees, un- 
der whose grateful shade you rested in childhood, wave a 
welcome with their green boughs ; the lawn, the fields 
smile with as rich verdure as when you sported in them 
long ago ; the brook hard by murmurs the same music that 
it did in your youth, and its waters sparkle as brightly 
in the sunshine now as then ; even the very house in 
which your bosom first heaved, and your eye first caught 

*Robert Steel, 1), D., of Abington, Pcnn. 



[8] 

the light — tlie very house with which your earliest and best 
memories are linked, invites your entrance, and quickly 
the loving embrace and tender kiss, are eloquent beyond 
human language, in telling the joyous welcome of affec- 
tionate hearts. But the venerable sire, whose hoary head 
was a crown of glory, and whose voice as he last clasped 
your hand when you were starting forth to make your 
way in the world, fervently uttered, " the Lord bless 
you, my son," is not there to welcome your return; he 
sleeps in the grave. Fatherless in that home wherein a 
father was the joy and the strength of the household, 
your friend and faithful instructor, the guide of your youth 
and the glory of your manhood ! Ah, then and there you 
realize his death as yo u never did, as you never could any 
elsewhere in the wide world. To those of the Alumni, 
like your speaker, not here since the death of Dr. Wylie, 
previous to this time, is now first given a full realization 
of the sad truth that he is indeed no more. AVhat thoughts 
throng the mind ! AVhat emotions struggle for utterance I 
If we could but see him once more, how vivid the image 
impressed on our memories would ever be ! If Ave could 
but listen to his instructions once more, with what jealous 
care we would treasure them through all our lives. 

" He being dead, yet speaketh," — his Life and Charac- 
ter have a lesson for us. 

Old Mortality wandered for thirty years amid lonely 
glens and silent church-yards, seeking the burial places 
of religious martyrs, cleansing the moss from gray grave- 
stones, and renewing, with industrious chisel, the fading 
devices and inscriptions thereon. Let me to-day attempt 
a similar pious purpose, seek to revive some lessons of 
wisdom that fell from Andrew Wylie's lips as honey drops 
from the rock,— in some degree renew the scri'pta he re- 
corded in the red-leaved volumes of human hearts, and 
make more distinct, fading impressions on our memories. 

The review of such a man's life, the analysis of such a 
man's character, can not he wholly devoid of interest even 
to those who never knew him, for none here to-dav arc 



[9] 

strangers to his fame. And, besides, no man's life is so 
common place as to be without interest; no man's life is 
so humble as to have no lesson of rich wisdom for the 
noblest. A man's life is a reality, and reality in all its 
relations is of vastly more interest to every mind than 
fiction. As we start down Loch Katrine, we see on our left, 
at the head of the lake, Glengyle, the place where Rob 
Roy dwelt, a green little vale, sloping hills on either side 
and in the rear, and washed in front by the silver wave ; 
near the foot of the lake is Ellen's Isle, the imagined 
home for long while of the outlawed Douglass, an isle 
of exceeding beauty; but in the thoughtful mind the for- 
mer awakens the greater interest, for Rob Roy, the rude 
free booter, was a veritable personage, while Fair Ellen 
danced only in a Poet's dream. And thus it ever is — 
Truth comes in the broad daylight bravely alongside and 
casts its grappling irons deep in our hearts, while Fiction 
floats away in the morning mist like a spectre ship at sea. 
Surely, then, we should find in the history of a man who 
was a positive and confessed force wherever he went, 
whose life was a verity and no fancy, who had a work to 
do in the world, and who did it as in the fear of God; a 
man sincere, honest, eminent — surely in the history of 
such a man, we may find deep interest and rich instruc- 
tion. 

Andrew Wylie w T as born in Washington County, Penn- 
sylvania, on the 12th of April, 1789. His father, an emi- 
grant from Ireland, was a hard-working farmer, loved 
his Bible and trusted in God, and was a kind husband 
and an excellent father. His mother, a native of Penn- 
sylvania, was a remarkable woman, uniting with, high in- 
tellectual endowments ardent piety, and possessing re- 
markable beauty. It w r as right that the excellence of 
head and heart should be associated with personal attrac- 
tions. Indeed the body is oftentimes the type of the soul, 
the countenance oftentimes the index of the character, 
and human beings are every day writing their lives upon 
their faces. The winds and the waves, the rains and vol- 

9 



[Ill] 

ciinic tires, the countless manifestations of ^Nature's forces, 
record their history upon the dead earth, And thus the 
winds of passion, the waves of adversity, the rains of 
grief, the fires of desire — the various forces from within 
and without, acting upon living souls, often make perma- 
nent impressions upon living faces. An emotion can 
suffuse the eye with tears, can blanch the cheek or in an in- 
stant inject its minutest capillaries until it blushes like a 
rose of York ; and surely the continued struggles, the re- 
peated emotions, the states and conditions of the soul, the 
life-experiences of the heart, will be manifest in a greater 
or less degree in the countenance. We have seen men 
who, in the pursuit of selfish ends by means of tortuous 
cunning, have erased every trace of nobility from their 
countenances, and have inscribed thereon Selfishness, 
Falsehood, and Dishonor, lit up by smirks of vanity, or 
by affectation of piety, their religion a cloak for iniqui- 
ty, their friendship concealed enmity ; and every pure wo- 
man has unconsciously shuddered and averted eye and 
soul from a man upon whose face sensuality has written 
its bestial character. Then, too, as we read in Hyperion, 
there are faces that are great Family Bibles, in which both 
the Old and ^"ew Testament are written, and others sweet 
love-anthologies and songs of the affections. When Mo- 
ses descended from the Mount, his recent communion 
with God was manifest in his shining face. A face per- 
fect in physical beauty, whereon noble intellect, generous 
affection, and heroic faith had registered their names, and 
through which spiritual purity and precious commun- 
ion with the Father of Spirits looked out, was the face 
Andrew Wylie first knew, first, if not most loved. It is 
well that high thought should declare itself upon a lofty 
brow, that warm affections should glow in the kindly 
smile and in the kindling light of the eye, and that in- 
ward grace should be shadowed forth by outward beauty. 
Mrs. Wylie was indeed a woman worthy the times, and 
equal to the responsibilities of a Christian mother. How 
well she discharged those responsibilities, let the honored 



[1*3 

and useful lives her sons — especially Dr. Andrew Wylie, 
and his oldest brother, the late William Wylie. D. D., of 
Wheeling, Virginia, who, but a few weeks since, up- 
wards of four-score years old, departed this life — accom- 
plished, answer. Dr. Andrew Wylie often spoke of her 
with all that tender affection which Cowper manifested 
toward the memory of his mother. How often are a 
mother's virtues and talents directly transmitted to her 
sons, and who can estimate her influence in moulding' 
their characters ! These truths have been so frequently 
demonstrated in the history of the world, especially of the 
Christian world, that we at once presume the mother to 
have been a superior woman from the eminence and vir- 
tue of her offspring. 

Andrew Wylie's parents were in but moderate circum- 
stances, and had a large family to support, and he and 
his brothers,, not altogether from necessity, but because 
their father wished to give them self-dependence, were 
early taught habits of industry and useful labor. Hence 
our subject had his physical organization well developed, 
and learned to appreciate justly, time and means and op- 
portunities for acquiring knowledge. Rising in summer 
before the sun, and working on, in the busy harvest time, 
long after his setting ; again with his brothers clearing 
new ground, digging, grubbing, and such labor; learn- 
ing from his precious and much loved Mother his first 
lessons in worldly knowledge and in heavenly wisdom, 
and when he grows older, sitting up the long winter 
evenings, after a hard day's toil, to read some useful and 
instructive book by the light of a blazing faggot — such 
was his life until fifteen years of age, Digging and grub- 
bing upon his father's acres now, — by and by lie shall be 
uprooting briars and brambles and all manner of noxious 
vegetation from human hearts, and planting in the pre- 
pared soil the seeds of Knowledge, Truth, and Virtue; — 
gathering the golden grain now, — by and by he shall go 
forth unto the white harvest-field of the world, wherein 
the cry tor near two thousand years lias been, "The 



[12] 

harvest is great, but the laborers are few," and then after a 
life of honored toil, go to his rest and reward, bearing 
precious sheaves. 

At fifteen, he enters a School, in the town of Washing- 
ton : the Teacher, to whom he often referred with respect 
and affection, is the late Judge Mills, of Kentucky. At 
school his conduct is unexceptional, his progress in his 
studies rapid and remarkably thorough, and the farmer's 
boy is the first. As one stage in life is, so will the suc- 
ceeding one be — -the former is the seed of the latter; and 
it is clear that this youth is planting the germs of a no- 
ble manhood. 

How often do youths and even children give indications 
of future distinction ! The invisible crowns which JSTature 
places upon the brows of those who are to be kings in 
the world, are shown by occasional gleamings long years 
before they become completely visible, and men acknowl- 
edge the regal power. Cyrus in his childhood bore such a 
kingly look, that he was crowned king by his companions 
in their plays. The greatest of Scottish Divines, except 
possibly brave Knox, and classic, stately Robertson, the 
mighty minded Chalmers, when but six years old, resolv- 
ed to be a preacher, selects a text and preaches a sermon 
thoughtful for one so young. 

" A inilk boy, sheltering from the transient storm, 
Chalked, on the grinder's wall, an infant's form ; 
Young Chantrey smiled; no critic praised or blamed; 
And golden promise smiled and thus exclaimed : — 
Go, child of genius! rich be thine increase; 
Go — be the Phidias of the second Greece." 

And thus it frequently is, childhood and youth uttering 
promise and prophecy of manhood, the present declaring 
the future. 
. From the School at Washington, he goes to Jefferson 
College at Canonsburgh, and though teaching to defray 
his expenses, still stands highest in all his classes, — he 
values his privileges and is determined to make the most 
of them; he has neither time nor money to squander in 
dissipation, and thus is saved from temptations which 



beset and often ruin many ~ young men in college; he 
kindly assists fellow-students in their studies, and is loved 
and respected by them — his noble pre-eminence excites 
no envious hate in their bosoms; he has won his laurels 
fairly and against great odds — let him wear them peace- 
fully. The Faculty respect him for his integrity and 
scholarship, and withal he is modest, unassuming, and 
sincere. In October, 1810, he graduates with the first hon- 
or, the second honor falling upon the late Governor Hen- 
dricks, who, from his college days, Avas one of Dr. Wylie's 
warmest friends and greatest admirers. His great regard 
for truth, truth in all its relations, and the thoroughness 
and accuracy of his knowledge, must be considered An- 
drew Wylie's chief characteristics during his school and 
college life. 

During his senior year he acted as tutor, and continued 
in this post for a time after graduation. He pursued his 
Theological studies in part, under his oldest brother, the 
Rev. William Wylie, and was licensed to preach in the 
fall of 1812. 

On the 29th of April, 1812, the Trustees of Jefferson 
College elect this stripling of twenty-three years, Presi- 
dent of that Institution, surprising no one half so much 
as the recipient of the honor; he at first shrinks from the 
high trust to which he is called, but finally accepts. In 
May of the succeeding year he was married to Miss Mar- 
garet Ritchie, of Canonshurgh, who, I need not tell you, 
still survives. 

In April, 1817, the Trustees of Washington College 
passed a resolution " separating the duties of the Princi- 
pal of the College from those of Pastor of the Congrega- 
tion." By this step the Rev. Matthew Brown was remov- 
ed from the Presidency; and then at the same meeting of 
the Board of Trustees, Rev. Andrew Wylie was called 
to the vacant place. Jefferson and Washington were 
chartered within the space of four years, were located but 
seven miles apart, and were dependent upon the same 
religious denominations for support. It seemed neither 



right nor politic that two institutions should occupy the 
ground where one was quite sufficient. Washington was 
in many respects the more suitable location, and Dr. Wr- 
lie went to take charge of the College established there 
at the urgent solicitation and advice of many of his 
friends, they believing that under his auspices the two 
Colleges might be thus and there united. Jefferson gradu- 
ally absorbed by Washington. This result, however, did 
not occur. On the contrary a bitter rivalry and contest. 
a " college war." which continued for many years, ensued. 
— a war which involved even the citizens of Washington 
and Canon .-burgh. Dr. TCylie's immediate successor in 
Jefferson was Dr. McMillen : lie was soon succeeded, how- 
ever, by Dr. Matthew Brown. Meantime the two institu- 
tion- gradually assumed these characters before the pub- 
lic — the one. Jefferson, strictly sectarian, the other liberal. 

Soon after his removal to Washington, Dr. Wyhi ac- 
cepted a pastoral charge some seven miles in the country, 
and during the many years lie retained this charge, he 
never failed to meet his congregation, unless when detain- 
ed by sickness. Of course his ministrations were emi- 
nently useful, and he was greatly beloved by his people — 
indeed, one of the most tender and touching scenes in his 
whole life, occurs when he spake to them for the last time 
prior to his removal from Pennsylvania — very much such 
a scene, I imagine, as happened when Paul uttered his 
farewell address to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus, 
•• sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, 
that they should see his face no more."' Even after Dr. 
Wylie\s removal to Indiana, this congregation made ex- 
traordinary efforts to induce him to return, and again be- 
come their spiritual guide. The memory of their love 
and kindness was a perpetual source of joy to him. and 
sometimes he thought that he had erred in leaving people 
so tenderly attached to him. and among whom his labor 
had been so blessed, 

The failure to consolidate the two Colleges, as well, 
possibly, as a desire to retire even from the very scene of 



U5-] 

those strifes, which such an effort had engendered, induc- 
ed Dr. Wylie to resign the Presidency of Washington 
College, in 1828. Meanwhile his reputation as an able 
Minister of the New Testament, as a profound Scholar, 
and successful Teacher, had greatly extended, and prom- 
inent Churches in eastern cities, as well as in the west, 
institutions of learning, and the Theological Seminary at 
Pittsburg, were anxious to obtain him. He would not go 
to a city, however, because he did not wish his sons to be 
exposed to the temptations with which cities abound, and 
thus many of these offers were at once excluded from his 
consideration. 

On the 5th of May, 1828, the first Board of Trustees of 
Indiana College met, and elected Dr. Wylie President of 
the infant institution, and immediately a correspondence 
was commenced with him on the part of the Board by 
Dr. David H. Maxwell, resulting in his removal from 
Washington to Bloomington, in 1829. 

And here, in accordance with my own feelings and in 
justice to the memory of a good and useful man, a man 
to Avhom the town and University are under incalculable 
obligations, it is eminently proper to say a word of the 
late Dr. Maxwell. His influence, more than that of any 
other man, determined the location of the College ; for 
nearly twenty-five years he was almost constantly Presi- 
dent of the Board of Trustees, and all the while he was 
a faithful and indefatigable friend to the Institution. The 
blood of Scotch Covenanters was in his. veins, and better 
blood none can boast; a good mind industriously cultiva- 
ted, a generous heart sanctified by divine grace, a lithe 
body and steady nerve, quick to perceive and prompt to 
perform, he was a fearless soldier, a kind physician, a 
skillful surgeon, a worthy citizen ; in the pathless forest, 
in the camp, on the field, at the sick bed, in deliberative 
bodies, in the social circle, in the church, he challenged 
the respect and regard of all who knew him— he was in- 
deed one of nature's noblemen. I should be glad to 
dwell on such a topic at greater length, but even if time 



[16] 

permitted, it would divert us too much from the main sub- 
ject of discourse — hence, too, I shall only, if at all, inci- 
dentally speak of the history of Indiana University, its 
difficulties and dangers, its trials and triumphs, under the 
Presidency — some twenty-two years in continuance — of 
Dr. Wylie. 

And now, what was Andrew Wylie? First, consider 
merely his personal appearance, and look at the physical 
man. 

Behold him as he is returning from the University, 
about twelve of the clock, on some hot summer day. 
Both in material and mode of dress, he regards comfort 
more than fashion — that brown linen coat spreads airily 
as crinoline; that leghorn hat, beneath whose ample brim 
a breath of wind occasionally steals to play with silver 
locks, peradventure has seen service for several summers; 
his form is large and well proportioned — a little too heavy 
for any surprising agility— but therein dwells " a power 
of strength" ; his shoulders are somewhat bent as only 
those of thinkers are bent; that is a broad and noble brow, 
the domain of high Thought; nor does the countenance 
indicate any lack of firmness — its possessor is immovable 
as the everlasting hills, when he believes himself right — 
there is a bluff independence in his look and manner — you 
can neither bribe nor terrify such a man ; ten chances to 
one a part of a stalk of blue grass or timothy projects 
from his mouth; an occasional twinkle in his eye and the 
flexibility of the muscles at the angles of the mouth show 
that he enjoys quiet, aye, and for that matter, noisy fun, 
most heartily; tears have furrowed those manly cheeks, 
and the tears will come again, tender and gushing as a 
woman's, if his sympathies are moved, or his heart pierced 
with grief — and when wrong is done and insult offered, 
that eye can flash with indignation — it can be a volcano as 
well as a fountain. In the main his countenance indica- 
ted Thought, Benevolence, and Independence. Dr. ¥y- 
lie's early labors on his father's farm, had developed his 
physical powers and increased native vigor of constitution. 



[17] 

Through all his life lie persisted in daily taking three 
hours exercise, and to this, conjoined with the observance 
of regular hours and temperate habits, may be attributed 
his remarkable exemption from severe sickness during his 
long life. Xoble body and excellent health as Dr. Wylie 
possessed, he was much more than a " Clothes-Horse and 
Patent Digester;" he was a man of positive attributes, of 
great qualities of head and heart. 

A casual glance at these attributes, a simple examina- 
tion of his character in a single aspect, will utterly fail to 
give us the true measure, or a correct judgment of him. 
Kay, we may be greatly disappointed, just as a man's first 
impressions of the sublimest work of JSTature on our con- 
tinent, are not equal to his anticipations; while a contin- 
ued examination from different points far transcends them. 
Moreover, the mere sight-hunter beholds nothing very 
wonderful in Raphael's cartoon of Paul on the Areopa- 
gus, or Murillo's Virgin, or one of Vandyke's portraits, 
for intellect and heart must unite their forces in the study 
of a great painting, in order to appreciate it, — much more 
hi the study of a great man, infinitely superior to the sub- 
limest conception of the noblest artist: even the heart 
alone is often a true and wise teacher, the smiles of love 
a light unto the understanding, and the voice of sympathy 
chants the prelude to knowledge. Coming then at least 
with loving hearts, may we obtain a true answer to the 
question, 

What was Andrew Wylie, in qualities and attributes? 

First — in his intellectual character, we see Strength. It 
stands out in bold relief, and we discern it as clearly as we 
do strength of another sort in the blacksmith's brawny 
arm with its great mnscle-ridges and big veins; or in the 
heavy blows which make the anvil ring, and mould the 
white-hot iron amid the showering sparks. 

More than twelve years ago, a man of no common abil- 
ities, then and now an eminent College Professor in this 
State, remarked to me, "your President is undoubtedly 
tin; strongest man west of the mountains." And in 



[18] 






reference to this very point, a gentleman whom I shall 
not name, but whose abilities as a jurist, integrity as a 
judge, and virtues as a citizen, entitle him to all praise 
and all respect, said to me quite recently, "Dr. Wtlie 
was by far the greatest man I ever knew." 2s~o man of 
average intellect and ordinary attainments, would gather 
round him and enjoy the grandest products of ancient 
and modern philosophy, these huge tomes of Plato and 
Aristotle, of Bacon and Cudworth, these volumes of 
Liebnitz and Hobbes, and others equally famed in 
the annals of science. Xone but an intellectual Titan 
could have produced the mountain-thoughts which are 
found in many of his addresses, thoughts sometimes so 
lofty that men small in intellectual stature could not see 
over them, or otherwise had their eyes so intent on the 
ground, or so blind with mists, that they could declare 
they saw no mountains, no, not even hillocks. 

Dr. TTylie was remarkable, not so much for greatness 
of knowledge and variety of attainments, as for Profund- 
ity — he had wisdom rather than mere learning. As a 
student he was thorough, reading a volume from first to 
last and not dipping into it at random, — good books are 
neither pans of milk, nor Florida soil. In order to attain 
this thorough knowledge of a subject either from books 
or by reflection, he could completely concentrate his mind 
upon the one thing, entirely excluding all else. In this 
abstraction he would frequently meet his students and 
even members of his own family, without being conscious 
of it. This want of recognition on his part often led 
those students who did not know him, to regard him as at 
least indifferent to them. Even to such, however, as 
might be oflended at this seeming neglect, he was still, 
as Edward Irving said of Chalmers, a force of gravita- 
tion, though not of attraction. 

Dr. Wylie had imagination, but its flowers were often 
crushed beneath his iron logic. Forms and outward 
adornment he cared not for, — nay. he cast them aside as 



[19] 

impeding his advance to the substance — -it was naked, ab- 
stract truth he sought. 

It would be an error to judge that one of such clear 
reason and profound understanding, spent so much time 
in the regions of high Thought, as to become pure intel- 
lect without heart. Dr. Wylie's emotional nature was, 
in many regards, exquisitely sensitive. No man felt in- 
justice or ingratitude more keenly; and when suffering 
such wrong, or overwhelmed by affliction, the intensity of 
his emotions often found expression in tears. Conjoined 
with this tender, tearful sensibility, he possessed much rich 
genial humor, just as we sometimes see the dark cloud 
fringed by the sunshine with varied splendors. From the 
lowest species of humor, the pun, up to the highest manifes- 
tation of true wit, his mind ranged. Indeed, some of his 
witticisms were quite as full of pith and point as any 
Dean Swift ever uttered, and occasionally, they were like 
the Dean's also, in another respect. The union of Sensi- 
bility and Humor is not unseldom seen. Hood wrote the 
Song of the Shirt, as well as the Lament for the Decline 
of Chivalry; Cowper was the author of "Lines upon the 
Reception of My Mother's Picture," some of which are 
plaintive as the wailings of a broken heart, — and John 
Gilpin's Race : Burns had an exhaustless fund of humor, 
yet no woman's, no child's heart was more tender. 

Dr. Wylie was steadfast and devoted in his attachment 
to friends, and in various ways manifested his interest in 
and regard for such. On the other hand, one whom he 
thought a deceiver, was kept at arm's length — he would 
have nothing to do with him — showing him no attention 
whatever to gain his good will. But I can not believe he 
cherished any malevolence towards those who were avow- 
edly hostile to him, and who may have actually wronged 
him; indeed, in his own family, and to his classes, lie in- 
variably discriminated between a bad man and bad nets, 
strongly condemning the acts, but speaking not even 
harshly of the actor: the tyrant Dionysius sold Plato as 



[ 20 J 

a slave, and afterwards was greatly troubled lest the 
philosopher should speak ill of him — " Plato was too busy 
to think of Dionysius" 

Dr. Wylie's sympathies were large and active — he 
could not endure the sight of great suffering ; in public 
distress and in private need, no man was more active or 
liberal in furnishing relief. Though having deep insight 
into human nature — reading men's motives, purposes, and 
characters, with facility, and generally with accuracy, — at 
almost any time his intellect would he taken captive by 
his heart, the tears of sympathy cloud his vision, and the 
undeserving thus obtain his charities. Anxious to relieve 
others from suffering, he is not less solicitous to prevent 
it, — after the occurrence of a very severe accident, when 
- he has endured agonies without a murmur or complaint, 
he tells his family, "I refrained my groans because the 
sound of them would be painful for you to hear." Xor 
were his sympathies confined to human beings — he could 
look upon tiny insects when they suffered, with pity. 
Many years ago, while clearing the ground on which his 
house was subsequently built, he remarks to >:< one of the 
students who is assisting him, pointing to a number of 
ants in the brush heap, " How many of these poor creatures 
will suffer when the brush is burned ! " 

Dr. Wylie had a hearty love for Xature. His early 
days were spent in the activities of farm life, and the 
fields and forests, the hills and streams, with all their 
countless forms of beauty and vitality, were familiar friends 
from childhood; indeed all his life was spent amid scenes 
wherein Xature had done much, and Art little. He had 
not the devotion which characterized John Foster, who 
spends a whole night under the open sky that he may 
note the varying features of twilight, of darkness and es- 
pecially of dawn ; nor of Wordsworth, who could meas- 
ure the linear inches he traveled, by poetic feet, write a 

* Lewis Kollman. 



[21] 

sonnet upon the most insignificant of natural objects, and 
who earnestly sings — 

" To me the meanest flower that breathes, can give 
Thoughts, that do often lie too deep for tears/' 

Nor has he the devotion of Richter, who was wont to 
study, to write, almost to live in the open air ; but still he 
has a healthy and sincere love of nature, of nature espe- 
cially as God's creation ; he could, using his own language, 
trace the impressions left by God's plastic hand on the 
face of external nature, and hear the sweet tones of His 
voice as they sound through all her lovely palaces. How 
often he used to come to his lecture-room with roses or 
other flowers in his hand ! How often has his eye turned 
from the page of profound philosophy to rest upon these, 
God's poetry in the book of nature, testimonials of His 
goodness, but types of man's mortality, for " the flower 
facleth." 

He frequently draws his illustrations from natural ob- 
jects. He finds in the mode of propagation of the straw- 
berry plant, an illustration of what an individual is; he 
sees in the forest monarch s that have withstood the tor- 
nado, emblems of men who have preserved their individ- 
uality in spite of tempest and storm ; Niagara furnishes 
him with a comparison to enforce a truth of Rhetoric : 
"The ornaments of style must break out from the depths 
of thought in the mind of the author as the light breaks 
out from the descending mass of mighty waters in the 
cataract of Niagara." Again, he explains public opinion 
thus — " it is formed by the refractive power of the body 
politic acting upon thought, like the atmosphere upon the 
rays of light. The loftiest peaks, rising heavenward far 
above the clouds, first catch the living light; lower emi- 
nences next; and so on, till it is 'deep day,' when the 
lowest valley is illuminated." Illustrating the rela- 
tive effects of union and disunion among Christians, he 
says: "Union and strength; disunion and weakness, is 
the instructive lesson inscribed by the hand of nature 
upon all her works. The massive rock which has for 



[22] 

ages withstood the shocks of ocean, -with all his roaring- 
multitude of waves," owes all its strength to the cohesion 
of its particles. Take this away and they may be drifted 
by the tide, and even wafted by the breeze. The rays of 
light as they fall, each with its separate impulse, on the 
eye, excite not the slightest pain in that tender and deli- 
cate organ. Thrown together in a focus, they are capable 
of instantly dissolving metals. The particles of the elec- 
tric fluid, when detached, penetrate our bodies, without 
being either seen or felt. United, they form the terrible 
thunderbolt, that rives the knotted oak. What so gentle 
as the falling snow, or the minute drops of rain? Yet, 
when combined, the former constitute the thundering av- 
alanche: the latter, the tremendous cataract." 

Xo man Avas more indifferent to wealth and worldly 
distinction. Indeed, it seemed strange to him that men 
were so eager in the pursuit of earthly objects. This gold 
which you accumulate with excessive toil, or for which 
you barter your heart's blood, and the most sacred joys of 
a deathless spirit, these palace-homes with their fountains 
and rlowers. their music and mirth, divert the soul from 
the grand purpose of life, and keep it in perpetual unrest 
and disquiet ; and moreover, they are all shams and dreams, 
which the first touch of death dissipates. Your search 
for happiness in these will be as bootless as was the search 
for Prester John. This great public for whose praises you 
toil, shouted Hosanna ! one day — Crucify Him, the next ; 
and in no case can the light of their smiles penetrate the 
darkness of the grave. These laurels which you would 
gather upon the field of fame, will soon fade and perish. 

Dr. TTylie was a man not only of strong will but of 
vivid conscience. " Conscience makes cowards of us all ;" 
Coleridge well adds, "it makes heroes of us, too.'' TThen 
the verdict of this power, God's vicegerent in the human 
breast, had satisfied him that he was right, that iron will 
would break rather than yield an iota — he would be true 
to his convictions of duty though all the world were ar- 
raved against him. 



[23] 

His Truth must be reckoned one of his highest charac- 
teristics. He neither would utter nor act a falsehood, and 
ever inculcated the strictest regard for truth ; in his own 
family he would not permit the smallest exaggeration, or 
any thing like prevaricating. Nor should we reckon this 
high regard for verity a common virtue. From the day 
that Paradise was lost to man with an uttered lie, — from 
the day that the Son of God was betrayed by the seal of 
love, an acted lie, words and acts are often symbols for 
falsehood, and we ever meet with men in every walk of 
life, who can stab while saying, "Is it well with thee, 
brother?" 

Of course we should expect to tind in a man like Dr. 
Wylie, clear-headed, conscientious, and truth-loving, an 
utter detestation for every thing like Affectation in lite- 
rature, or Cant in religion. Perchance more than one 
daw strutting in peacock's feathers, he stripped of his 
foolish finery ; while his speech at times may have been 
like Ithuriel's spear, and pierced through the guise of 
hypocrisy. Nor do I judge that a true man will fail to 
find in our world, abundant opportunity for the exercise 
of this detestation of shams and pretenses, for shams and 
pretenders, quacks in religion, in medicine, in law, in pol- 
itics, are every where; and such are the strange inequali- 
ties, yea, oftentimes the injustice of society, that while 
men of education and sensibility "ask for bread and re- 
ceive a stone," the brainless, heartless, brazen-faced quack 
wins fame and wealth. Besides, so liberal and impartial 
are colleges and courts, ecclesiastical and literary bodies, 
and the people too, sending the rain of titles and honors, 
offices and degrees upon the evil and good, the fit and the 
unfit, that occasionally, perchance, we are reminded of the 
trick which Rabelais played upon the faculty of Orange, 
or of Orleans, an A. M., or an M. D., a Doctor of Laws, 
or of Divinity, a Reverend, or a Lawyer, especially often 
a legislator, made, not indeed of Johannes Caballus, but 
of Johannes Asinus. 



[24] 

Humility was an important element in Dr. Wylie's 
character. Possessing acknowledged abilities and tho- 
rough culture, he is simple and unostentatious in his man- 
ners, humble in his self-estimate; indeed, for this cause, 
he did not pass for what he was worth — did not appear to 
the best advantage upon all occasions. The ready talker, 
even if he have no more thought in his voice than has 
the roaring surf, the restless doer, even if he make no 
more progress than a huge fish floundering on the dry 
beach, is hailed often as a great man, while as often the 
profound thinker, the silent worker, humble and without 
pretensions, is for the hour forgotten. 

Dr. AVylie's great learning discovered to him vast fields 
unexplored ; and in comparison with the amount and vari- 
ety of human knowledge — the different sciences every 
year increasing in number and widening in domain, iso- 
lated facts, too, standing up like guide boards, pointing 
the way to new temples of Truth, and observers every- 
where discovering new facts — every noble science a vista, 
down whose long avenue the eye grows dim with the 
shadows of three-score years, and then has not discerned 
its termination, the horizon of knowledge stretching 
away to the infinite, — what are the attainments of any one 
man, and where is boasting, or occasion for aught but hu- 
mility! In the world of Nature, the boughs most heavi- 
ily laden with fruit, or, using Dr. Wylie's own compari- 
son, the sound, full heads of wheat bend the lowest. 
Thus the greatest minds, most richly stored with knowl- 
edge and most fruitful, are the humblest. Newton, "who 
threw his plummet over blazing Sirius and for a moment 
silenced the music of the crystal spheres as he traced the 
mighty cord which held the choristers together," at the 
close of his life, marked by such great labors and grand 
achievements, has been gathering pebbles and shells on 
the shore, the great ocean of truth stretching before him 
unexplored. Humboldt, after scaling mountains and trav- 
ersing continents, with dauntless energy and tireless in- 
dustry collecting vast stores of knowledge, consecrating 



t ® ] 

his long and honored life to scientific pursuits, declares 
that he lives joyless in his ninetieth year, because he has 
done so little. A little child that has clambered up on a 
chair, gratified by its temporary elevation, will raise up 
its hands exclaiming, "I am big;" but wherefore should a 
grown man echo the child's silly boast! These creatures 
in the likeness of man who strut about in mock dignity, 
ever bearing about them an "I am Sir Oracle" air, scarce- 
ly deigning the ordinary civilities of life to those who do 
not natter their big vanity and bow the knee in reverence 
to their narrow opinions — whose signature is always sim- 
ply Smith, Jones, or Brown, as if the world had but one 
Smith, one Jones, or one Brown — these are generally small 
in abilities, meagre in attainments, mean in spirit — they 
are shams and not true men, no matter what artificial el- 
evation or personal inflation they may possess, — "Pig- 
mies are pigmies still, though perched on Alps." 

And now, what was Dr. Wylie's character in its unity? 
What was this great intellect with its thorough culture, 
this iron will, this living conscience, this large heart com- 
bined in a body quickened with physical life? The key- 
note of his life, he uttered in his last baccalaureate. List- 
ening to it, all discord ceases, and that life is a harmony. 
Therein a light is given, guided by which we behold his 
deeds and words in their true character and relations. 
His Individuality in all its relations, in all its fruits 
and forces, he keeps sacred. His life is inward, and 
therefore intense; it is not under the dominion of con- 
ventionalism, and is free. He will do his own work in 
his own manner, no matter what others may think 
and say. The foundation of this distinct and defi- 
nite Personality is in the most individualizing of all reli- 
gions, Christianity, which "finds man amidst the throng 
of his companions, arrests him with a strong, but friendly 
hand, takes him aside from the crowd, the noise and bus- 
tle of life, and shows him his Worth arid His responsibility 
as an individual." . This Personality is the key-stone 
which gives symmetry and strength to his character; it is 
4 



[28] 

tlie great central fact of Dr. Wylie's life, the great central 
truth of his teachings. In this age of Materialism and 
Mammon -worship, when our lives are for externals, our 
thoughts all " outward hound," our philosophy mechan- 
ical — the mind lost sight of in the things exterior to it, — 
" metaphysical and moral sciences falling into decay, while 
the physical are engrossing, every day, more respect and 
attention,'* when the individual is lost in the mass, and 
when we associate equally, construct machinery alike to 
build railroads and to found colleges, to dredge rivers and 
to convert sinners — there is need that a new gospel, nay, 
the old gospel of the despised Nazarene, should be fully 
preached unto men whether they hear or forbear, that they 
should be told, Ye are living souls and not merely organ- 
ized bodies — this earthly tabernacle perishes, but the Di- 
vinity which stirs within it is deathless; and more still, 
no church creed, no party platform, no association with 
other men, even for the best purposes, no work in the 
mass can absolve you from personal effort and personal re- 
sponsibility ; Death will resolve every multitude into its 
atomic souls, and even now and ever, the Great God be- 
holds you as distinct individuals. A man thus conscious 
of his Worth and Responsibility as a living soul, determin- 
ed to preserve his individuality at all hazards, will have 
his battles — moreover, no positive, energetic man, walk- 
ing in a straight path, ever yet went through the world 
without treading on somebody's toes, or elbowing some 
other body's sides. Many a wave will dash against the 
rock bluff and uplifted, many a wind wrestle with the 
forest monarch that rises in lone grandeur amid a sea of 
prairie. 

Yet, while admiring this Individuality which was the 
type of Dr. Wylie's character — an Individuality fostered 
by his seclusion and deep study — this very isolation kept 
him from being fully known, and well understood. His 
life was not enough in contact and communion with so- 
ciety for him to acquire that keen, practical judgment and 
delicate tact, and possibly that conciliatory disposition, all 



[2T] 

of which would have availed him much in the general 
conduct of life. On the other hand, his life did not 
touch society at a sufficient number of points and fre- 
quently enough, for that great electric force which resided 
in him, to be fully felt and appreciated. 

Dr. Wylie was engaged in teaching, not merely as an 
ostensible occupation, but as his true life-work. Consider- 
ing him as n Teacher, let us not restrict the office to the 
class-room, but let it embrace all that he did to instruct 
by public addresses at home and abroad, all that he did 
through the Press and in the Pulpit. 

First, let me remove what seems to me a false judgment, 
which may exist in the minds of some who hear me. 

Dr. Wylie has been * " likened" to Dr. Thos. Arnold, who 
obtained such eminence as a historian, and especially as 
head-master of Rugby. I apprehend that the similarity 
between these two great men extends scarcely farther 
than to their both being teachers an 1 members of the 
same religious denomination. The surroundings of their 
childhood were different, — the one is on the Isle of Wight, 
amid the excitement of naval and military affairs, when 
Napoleon dazzles and defies the world, and young Arnold 
drinks in the war spirit, and has Homeric heroes lighting 
their battles with all manner of garden implements while 
he recites Pope's translation ; the other is plodding upon 
his father's farm in Western Pennsylvania, with no vis- 
ions of war to fire his youthful heart, — away from the 
busy haunts of men, and with but few books. The cir- 
cumstances of their education are different; Arnold with 
abundant means for education, independent of personal 
effort, at Warminster, at Winchester, and then at Ox- 
ford, every external advantage and incentive to activity 
and richness of culture; the other at a village school, and 
then at a young college, scarcely out of its swaddling 
clothes, all the while supporting himself by toil of hand 
and then of head. Their sentiments and conduct in ae- 



Eulogy by K<:v. l»r. Claxton. 



[28] 

tual life are different,— the English hero is progressive, 
even sometimes to radicalism, — wanders from "Warbur- 
ton's theory of government to its opposite extreme, con- 
tending zealously for the union, or rather the identity, of 
church and state; he must write a pamphlet or die. he 
longs to fight the heretics at Oxford as in a saw-pit, and 
not unseldom is betrayed into foolish and unprofitable 
controversy; he writes on everything and to everbody — 
has a multitude of irons in the fire, but gives his greatest 
labor to history, and with historical eye beholds objects in 
the concrete. Our hero is truly conservative though not 
at a stand still ; can not abide union of church and state ; 
is no polemic either in or out of theology, though as to the 
latter matter, when driven to the wall, or when his blood is 
up, real or supposed wrong done him, few men could 
make more heroic or stronger fight — he deals blows terrible 
as the Black Prince, at Ashby Tournament, when three 
knights so hotly pressed the gallant Ivanhoe, and a distin- 
guished lawyer, no carpet knight, no common man, de- 
clares that he would rather meet in conflict ten of the best 
lawyers in the State, than this one preacher; Dr. AYylie 
has no ambition for notoriety, no strong impulse toward 
authorship, does not possess the versatility of mind, the 
variety of attainments, nor make the variety of endeav- 
ors that Arnold does ; he looks at life from a different 
stand-point, is a philosopher not in historical, but in met- 
aphysical and moral truth, sees objects in the abstract — 
has a reflective mind, and makes Thought rather than Ac- 
tion the king of his philosophy : in mental science, and I 
say it not hastily, Dr. AVylie was the greater man. To 
see how widely they differed in regard to education, not 
in the theory of government, for here their sentiments 
were in remarkable harmony, but in the practice, let any 
one contrast Dr. Arnold's article, entitled Discipline in 
Public Schools, written in 1835, with Dr. "Wylie's address 
before the College of Teachers in 1838, on College Gov- 
ernment. I can not but think that a careful review of 
the lives and characteristics of these men will satisfv an v 






[29] 

thoughtful mind that they presented more and greater 
dissimilarities and incongruities than their opposites, 

As President of an institution of learning, Dr. "Wylie's 
office was two-fold, to instruct and govern. His theory 
of college government is evolved and strongly enforced 
in the address to which reference was made a moment 
since. This government he denominated the "paternal" 
"as being analogous to that which every wise and affec- 
tionate father exercises over his children, and which is 
the nearest image of that moral and providential govern- 
ment, which the great God, our Heavenly Father, exer- 
cises over us, His intelligent offspring. It seeks to establish 
its authority over the governed, not by a system of mi- 
nute and paltry rules, which require the exercise of an es- 
pionage, as vexatious to the governors as it can be to the 
governed, but by addressing itself to the rational and mor- 
al faculties of the latter, and to their sense of honor, their 
interests, and social affections and sympathies." 

Many difficulties beset .Dr. Wylie in the exercise of 
government — some of them belonging to him, others ex- 
ternal, I have already incidentally referred to the chief 
former; and as to the latter, it would be melancholy to 
give even an inventory of the weapons framed against 
the Institution or against the President, — one while, may- 
hap, Disaffection and Intrigue in the Faculty ; again 
Demagogism, Sectarianism, Misrepresentations, Misunder- 
standings, encouraged by others ever ready to strength- 
en any disaffection existing in the mind of a student and 
to widen the breach between him and the President, — but 
let the "Dead Past, bury its dead," and may God prosper 
no weapon formed against this Institution, but bring shame 
and confusion upon all its foes. . . Dr. Wylie was a 
self-determining and self-dependent will. The views 
formed in his own study, founded in abstract thought, he 
endeavored to execute without seeking the counsel and 
concert of others. Of course such views could not, to say 
the least, always be expedient, and hence difficulties mighl 
be expected. Probably he himself was conscious that \w 



[ a* 1 

sometimes erred in such independent, resolute, and straight 

forward course. Many years ago, while on a visit to 
Crawfordsville, he remarked to the late Rev. Dr. Baldwin. 

then President of Wabash College. " If there were a stump 
in the mad. you would walk quietly around it. hut I would 
blunder against it. battering and bruising my shins." Our 
honored teacher possessed the kindly sympathies, the 
pleasant humor and the conversational power to have 
made himself the most popular of presidents, had he as- 
sociated with students more, and become known and un- 
derstood by the in. 

As an instructor. Dr. AVyliz challenged the admiration 
i>f all. He brought to this high office a most thorough 
and accurate knowledge of language — he was especially 
well versed in Greek and Latin : he had a mind rich in 
the treasures of philosophy, profound in thought, and of 
remarkable dialectic skill. He was quite familiar with 
the classic authors of ancient times ; often and gladly he 
drank from the deep well of Aristotle: sad Plato, whose 
heart was so sorrowful as he contemplated the vices and 
the follies of men, and whose mind searched with holy 
zeal after sublime Truth, was probably Dr. Wylie's favor- 
ite author — many of his dialogues he translated and pub- 
lished; he was a diligent student and great admirer of 
Cicero. But there is not time to enumerate either the 
ancient or modern authors, with whose pages he was fa- 
miliar. " His ability as a teacher, was evident at an early 
period. His lectures on Metaphysics, dated in 1817. (he 
was then in his twenty-eighth year.) show an extraordina- 
ry progress, as well as that power in abstract thought 
which distinguished him in his subsequent career. This 
abstract thought he applied to all phenomena, to men. 
history and common occurrences in life."' In teaching. 
he illustrated the principles of one subject by referring 
to those of another more familiar to the student. He did 
not think for his pupils. — that, using hi> own compar- 
ison, resembles the method of those nasty nurses, who 
themselves masticate the food which they afterwards put 

1 



I W j 

in the unconscious infant's mouth. But his great object 
was to teach them to think; his instructions, speaking af- 
ter the manner of Carlyle, were " seeds, and not baked 
flour, seeds of knowledge, which when they take root in 
the mind ramify, while we meditate them, into a whole 
garden of thought." While we might value his instruc- 
tions at the time they were given, yet none could fully 
appreciate them save as years brought experience and re- 
flection. Perhaps, sometimes indeed, we thought his 
maxims and advice unwise ; but observation and experi- 
ence proved our mistake, and with every such proof — 
possibly plucked with bleeding hands from thickets of 
thorns, or introduced into our nature with draughts bit- 
ter as of wormwood and gall, — how we honor the mem- 
ory of our kind and wise Teacher. 

Dr. Wylie's heart was consecrated to the work of 
teaching. How eloquent is the valedictory he uttered to 
the College of Teachers. What devoted zeal burns in 
these concluding words : "When, for the last time, my 
head reclines upon my pillow and fancy is busy painting 
on the memory the scenes of the past, may the consolation 
be mine — may it be yours — to look over the country and 
see here and there, faithfully serving God and their coun- 
try, those, who, when the tidings of our demise, — a euthan- 
asia may it be — shall reach them, will say, while the tear 
of fond and grateful remembrance trembles in their eye 
— 'He was my teacher, beloved, honored and revered! 
Blessings on his memory ! for he taught me to love truth, 
to love virtue, and to aspire after communion with their 
Author.' " 

Dr. Wylie was a Teacher unto all who read his pub- 
lished thoughts or heard his public addresses. 

As to his style of composition, Strength and Plainness 
were its great characteristics ; he made no effort at fine 
writing any more than he did at flue speaking — to express 
the thought clearly and forcibly was his object. There 
was no pedantry in his discourse — no words of ponderous 
length and thundering sound to astonish and confound 



his hearers. When he delivered his Inaugural as Presi- 
dent of this Institution, a man with paper and pencil in 
hand, was noticed amongst the auditors, and after the ad- 
dress was concluded, some one anxious to know what he 
had been doing with these, asked him what he thought 
of the address, — his reply was, "Xot much. You seel 
came prepared to take down all the words I could not un- 
derstand, and there were only two of them in the whole 
speech/*'" * 

The simplicity of his style is well worthy of study and 
imitation, especially when contrasted with the style so 
much in favor at the present day, and which is often fos- 
tered by our literary institutions. Huge Greek and Latin 
derivatives, that often force even classical scholars to their 
dictionaries, and of course are not understood by many of 
the mass, are coming into our language like an army and 
driving the strong Saxon out : if this invasion be not soon 
checked, the definition of language will truly be, "the 
means of concealing our thoughts/"' 

As to the matter of his composition, Dr. AVylie in the 
main exhibited the fruit of much reflection, the product 
of profound thought. The great characteristic of most 
that he wrote, is that it demands the exercise of both at- 
tention and reflection — it furnishes food for thought, is 
suggestive and opens up many avenues of knowledge, the 
presence and the purpose of which we can not see at a 
single reading: in order to understand and know, we 
must read and reflect, and repeat once or oftener our 
reading and reflection. Sometimes, in his graver dis- 
courses, there would occur passages adorned with the treas- 
ures of his imagination, like beds of flowers surrounded 
by massive rocks and overshadowed by huge forest trees. 
Indeed, I am not sure, strange as the remark may seem 
to some, but the original type of his mind was jioetic, (or 
at any rate that his gifts were creative as muck as reflectke) 



* Lewis Bollman, Esq., of Bloomington, is niy authority for the above anecdote. I take 
great pleasure in thanking him also, for so kindly furnishing me some valuable information 
concerning my subject. 



[33] 

changed indeed by his studies and the necessities of his 
life, so that the calm voice of the philosopher is heard, 
the clear deductions of the logician beheld, rather than the 
melodies and the visions of the poet. He had Ideality, 
which, however, only occasionally manifested itself; he 
had, as previously mentioned, rich Humor and vivid Sen- 
sibility, endowments which have been found greatest in 
the best poets; and what in the records of uninspired 
prose-poetry is more brilliant and truthful than his descrip- 
tion of water in his last baccalaureate? . . His manner 
in the lecture room, at times, revealed the poet. Can not 
we all remember instances when, after instructing us not 
only in an unimpassioned, but, possibly, dry manner as he 
leisurely walked the floor, suddenly as some great thought 
sprang up in his mind, some sublime inspiration pervaded 
his soul, countenance and attitude were changed — his form 
erect and his eye flashing — and he enchained our atten- 
tion, uttering winged words, "as if indeed his lips had been 
touched with hallowed fire, and God had given him the 
" mens dioinior," and the " os magna sonaturum ? " 

Of Dr. Wylie's published addresses, probably that 
which he delivered before the Philomathean Society of 
Wabash College, July, 1838, — the subject of the address 
was " The Propriety of retaining the Greek and Roman class- 
ics in their place, as a part of study necessary in the course of a 
Liberal Education," — was most widely known and won for 
its author the highest praise. Asher Bobbins, * of Rhode 
Island, one of the finest classical scholars ever a member 
of our National Senate, wrote to him soliciting a copy of 



* Newport, R. Island, April £2, 1830. 
Rev. Dr. Wyue — Sir : An extract published In the Intelligencer, from your Address, to the- 
Philomathean Society, of 'Wabash College, has excited in me a strong desire to sco the wl olo 
Address. Will you, sir, do me the favor to send me a c<py in pamphlet form, if vou havo 
one to spare. I take the liberty to send you herewith, a copy of my remarks in the Senato 
of the U. States, on the subject of the Smithsonian Bt quest, whence you will infer the deep 
interest 1 take in common with yourself, in tlic cause of classical education, and how accept- 
able therefore your Address will be to me. Willi highest respect and consideration, 

Your ob't servant, 

ASHEU KOBBINS. 



[34] 

the address. Daniel Webster * also wrote to him for the 
same purpose. Dr. Wylie's eulogy upon La Fayette, de- 
livered in this town, elicited a letter from Webster, in 
which he spoke of the production in terras of highest 
praise. Surely, the students of Dr. Wylie are guilty of 
no blind idolatry, of no idolatry at all, when they declare 
that in ability he was one of the first men in all our 
country. 

When the occasion specially required it, or when the 
time for preparation was brief, he would give a truly 'pop- 
ular address, not so profound as to tax the thought of his 
auditors, and yet most entertaining and instructive. 
What could be more admirable in simple wisdom, in kind 
feeling, than his address in 1849, to the pupils of St. Ma- 
ry's Seminary, Indianapolis? 

How shall I speak of those addresses, such as a Fourth 
of July speech in this place, a few years after coming- 
west, and an address to the Mechanics' Institute of Bloom- 
ington — addresses so brimming with humor, that men had 
to laugh until the tears were in their eyes and their sides 
were sore ? And yet, beneath this current of humor, 
there was a vein of rich wisdom lying, as beneath the 
sparkling, laughing streams of the El Dorado of our land, 
precious gold is found. 

" Dr. Wylie was the author of an English Grammar, 
published about 1822, an excellent Grammar, but which did 
not succeed, because it demanded of the teacher, thorough 
knowledge, requiring him to furnish examples, illustra- 
tions and questions. " His " Sectarianism is Heresy, " a 
profound argument against the divisions obtaining in the 
Church, published in 1840, never excited that interest to 



* Washington, March 8, 1839. 
My Dear Sir : — I have had the pleasure of reading your Address to the Philomathean So- 
ciety, of Wabash College. It strikes me as an original, instructive, and interesting per. 
formance, and I will be much obliged to j'ou, if you will send a copy to my address at Bos- 
ton. I wish I had something worthy of your acceptance, to send in return. 

Yours, with much respect, 

DANIEL WEBSTER. 
Rev. Dr. Wtlib. 



[85] 

which its purpose, spirit, and ability entitled it. Dr. Wy~ 
lie attributed its want of success to its being badly print- 
ed, and not being brought before the public by a regular 
publisher with his various arts to give it notoriety. These 
undoubtedly were two of the reasons, but, as suggested by 
another, there were others. "All the religious world is 
divided into sects, and the title of the book was offensive 
to it. Moreover, just before its publication, more than 
one denomination had been expecting the Doctor to unite 
with them — the book undeceived and provoked them. " 
"The Equator," a literary journal, published here, of 
which Dr. Wylie was principal owner, and for which he 
furnished some original articles as well as translations 
from the Greek, lived only about eighteen months : the 
name given it, referred to his religious position. 

Some years previous to his decease, Dr. Wylie, at the 
urgent solicitation of one of our number, who had at heart 
not only the Doctor's fame, but likewise the good of the 
Institution, commenced writing for the Press. When ar- 
rested by death, he had completed two works for publi- 
cation, the one on Ehetoric, the other, Advice to Young 
Men. These, as well as many of his sermons, ought to be 
published ; and upon none can the honor of bringing them 
before the public, more fitly devolve, than upon the Alum- 
ni of Indiana University; certainly, we ought to take 
some action looking towards such a desirable result. 

Dr. Wylie was a Teacher in the Sacred Desk. And 
here it is necessary that I should speak, briefly as possible, 
of his religious history as well as that of his ecclesias- 
tical relations. When that new birth, without which 
no man can enter into the kingdom of Heaven, occurred 

his soul, or when he united with the Church of his 



id 



parents, I have not been able to learn. But there came 
to him in his early manhood, doubts as to the authen- 
ticity of the Scriptures — and to solve for himself the 
solemn question, Are these the words of God? he sought 
a retired place, where the All-seeing Eye alone was upon 
him, collecting all the volumes that could assist him in 



[88] 

the investigation, and there spent weeks in diligent, earn- 
est study. Giant Despair grapples with him, and he is 
imprisoned in dark, Doubting Castle. But no Doubting 
Castle can hold that strong mind — no Giant Despair van- 
quish that earnest, truth-loving spirit; he comes forth 
with an unalterable conviction, a changeless intellectual 
faith that the Bible is the Word of God. Thoughtful 
men will acknowledge it was no mean tribute to the 
proofs of the Truth of Christian Revelation, that a pro- 
foundly philosophic mind of such rich scholarship and 
severe logic should have, after patient and thorough in- 
vestigation, come to this conclusion; this example, too, 
confirms De Quincey's observation, "though a great man 
may, by a mere possibility, be an infidel, an intellect of 
the highest order must build upon Christianity.''* . . . 
Scepticism is probably one of the greatest dangers to which 
our national mind is exposed. It would seem that every 
year we were drifting farther and farther from the large and 
earnest faith of our ancestors. Especially are young men 
liable to doubt and live in practical denial of Revealed 
Truth, until doubting and denial ripen into Deism or 
blind Atheism : indeed, how many of them enter upon the 
realities of life as Schlegel entered upon eternity, with 
"But" upon the lips! Would that the example of Ax- 
drew Wylie, noble as the noblest of them, might lead all 
such, and every honest doubter, however advanced in life, 
to the diligent and honest investigation of the most mo- 
mentous question which can agitate the mind of the race 
or of the individual, "Is the Bible inspired of God?" — 
most momentous, because if affirmatively answered it in- 
volves corollaries of infinite importance. Moreover a be- 
lief thus won, will be fixed in a man's intellectual nature 
and be of unspeakable preciousness to his heart. Had Bai- 
ley's hero, Festus, indeed, "breasted a rushing, burning 
world which came between him and his heart's delight/" 
he would not have been like a bee among flowers, flitting 
from one love to another; the child that has been rescued 
from fire or water will be clasped to the parent's heart as 



[37 J 

more precious for the very peril to which it has been expos- 
ed. It is true that even the eye which has searched fully 
and satisfactorily the " Evidences," may for a season be 
partially darkened, but the full light will come again; the 
winds and the waves may rock that anchored ship, until 
it seems as if she were parting her cable or dragging her 
anchor, but when the calm comes, she will settle back to 
her old place and be found still secure. 

For nearly a score and a half of years, Dr. Wylie was a 
Presbyterian minister, but the sad division which sepa- 
rated that noble communion into Old and New School, as 
well, possibly, as a belief on his part that he had been 
treated unjustly by the highest judicatory of the Church, 
led him practically to withdraw from that Church. And 
then for a time he is in a sort of transition-state, — the eye 
is darkened, the ship is terribly shaken — he decries all 
systems of Theology, regrets all creeds and confessions, 
actions are everything, beliefs nothing, orthodoxy has no 
place, orthopraxy all place; his heart is chilled while he 
lives in this atmosphere of doubt and denial, and his ser- 
mons lose their vitality and become more like cold moral 
essays, than evangelical discourses. But the clouds dis- 
appear, light again shines upon him, and his heart is 
again warm. Even before uniting with the Episcopal 
Church, he returns to his old reverence for symbolic the- 
ology, In Christianity, earnestness of life can not exist 
independent of dehniteness of religious views, and certain- 
ty of purpose. 

In December, 1841, at New Albany, Dr. Wylie was or- 
dained a deacon, and in May, 1842, at Yincennes, he 
was admitted to the holy order of the priesthood in the 
Episcopal Church, by Bishop Kemper. This, like almost 
every other important step in life, was taken without 
counseling with his friends, or giving them any certain 
indication that he meditated it. No one who knew Dr. 
Wylie can now doubt — no matter what may have been 
the prejudices and misrepresentations of the hour — that 
in this matter he acted conscientiously. Nor would it be 



[38] 

difficult to show not only that this step was entirely con- 
sistent with, but measurably compelled by, the sentiments 
uttered in his work on Sectarianism. 

Let us now consider his Religious Character, It seems 
to me that the deepest-lying, most pervading element 
of his spiritual nature was Reverence. Not indeed such a 
three-fold reverence as Goethe teaches in Wilhelm Meis- 
ter's Travels — no poetico-philosophic theory — but that fear 
which is the beginning of knowledge, sanctified by the 
love of Him who first loved us, a true Christian Rever- 
ence, embracing loving regard of the True, the Good, and 
the Great, in all races of men, and in all ages of time, — 
" the highest feeling of which man is capable, the crown 
of his whole moral manhood." This spirit pervaded Dr. 
Wylie's theological views — theology to him was rather a 
divine life, than a divine knowledge ; it was manifest in 
his interpretation of Scripture, in his sermons, and in his 
prayers. How often in prayer did his faltering tongue 
and hesitating utterance, attest the deep solemnity which 
overshadowed, the profound reverence which occupied 
his soul! There was more adoration in one of those 
pauses than in an avalanche of the flippant, thoughtless 
prayer we sometimes hear. 

We would do well to notice Dr. Wylie's catholicity, as 
another important element in his religious character. We 
justly expect one of his mind and cultivation to be cathol- 
ic iu feeling and opinion. In every profession — I know 
it is the case in Medicine, and I believe it to be so in the 
other professions — the most illiberal, ungenerous, and un- 
gentlemanly, the meanest and most conceited men are 
generally those of the least education, while the opposite 
is also commonly true. 

Dr. Wylie recognized no religious creeds as perfect, nor 
any one as coinciding throughout its entire extent with 
his own views. He was accustomed to say in his ser- 
mons, "In this I believe with our Methodist brethren; " 
" In this with our Baptist friends," and so of other denom- 
inations. He continued to commune with the Presbyte- 



[«] 

rian church, even after the change in his ecclesiastical re- 
lations. Possibly there was a time when he was ultra 
catholic — too liberal to be positive in his own faith, — ■ 
Milton's warrior-angels from the very atmosphere of earth 
received stains which remained a greater or less time on 
their garments of dazzling brightness, and no man in this 
world of warring creeds, of conflicting opinions, of con- 
tradictory testimonies, of light and darkness, can at all 
times keep, however pure and earnest his devotion to 
truth may be, the garments of his faith free from taint or 
stain of error. 

Dr. Wylie's religion was not of a noisy, obtrusive sort 
— it did not consist in forms and ceremonies, and the 
stereotyped phrases of religious discourse. We should 
never forget that Religion is the life of the soul, not the 
utterance of the lips, and that conversation is often pro- 
foundly religious without being ostensibly so. In his 
baccalaureates he never failed to present some phase of reli- 
gious truth, or to impress some precious religious counsel 
without approximating the style of a sermon or random 
exhortation. 

His sermons were characterized by his profoundly rev- 
erent spirit towards God and his teachings, his truly cath- 
olic spirit towards man and his beliefs. With deep 
penetration he grasps at the heart of a subject — brings a 
new wealth of meaning from texts trite and familiar — and 
with logical precision presents it to his hearer; in the 
pulpit he displays a power of compact thought and co- 
gent argument such as few men possess — a sermon from 
him was always an intellectual treat. Nor were his dis- 
courses devoid of lofty eloquence, and at times of deep 
pathos, though some hearers might think they often lack- 
ed in that quality which is seldom found in the sermons 
of those who are not actively engaged in pastoral duties 
— nor always in the sermons of such — unction; in his very 
last years, however, it is said that they were characterized 
by this in a remarkable degree. 






[40] 



In his preaching, the Doctor carefully abstained from 
the discussion of abstract doctrines and sectarian differen- 
ces, treating with respect the mysteries of the Bible, at- 
taching but little importance to modes and ceremonies. 

but especially insisting upon the great matters of personal 
piety and social duty. . . . Doubtless, great faithful- 
ness and entire frankness characterized his discourses when 
pastor. " I heard Bro. T.* preach an excellent sermon," 
he once remarked, " for it made the people angry, because 
of his great plainness of speech, in re] 'roving their sins." 
Sometimes in his absent-mindedness. Dr. AVylie forgot 
the kind of a discourse the occasion required. He was 
once invited to preach at the dedication of a Church at 
Evansville: to the great surprise of the people, his sermon 
did not contain even an allusion to the occasion, but was 
a homily upon the Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not 
kill." 

I must now speak of the close of his days. 

Few men had a heavier cross to bear — our existence 
here is often Po.ss>o/< as well as A —we must suffer as 
well as do, in the battle of life. 

I pass by the physical sufferings which he endured, the 
fiery doubts with which he wrestled for the life of his soul, 
the want of proper appreciation, the misunderstandings 
of his character the misrepresentations of his conduct 
and of his opinions — some said he was a haughty tyrant, 
another called him insane, others an infidel; I pass by. 
too. the errors which he may have committed, in moments 
of impulse or mistaken judgment, from which bitter fruit 
sprang. All these I pass by to speak of those sorer trials 
which tried his soul as with tire. one. and another, and 
still another of his sons called away, the death of the last. 
Samuel, noble iu intellect, and generous in heart, just 
when eminent usefulness awaited him, one whom many of 
us knew and loved — his loss the sorest trial of all, and 
then the true silver gleam shines out. and the purified 

* J. C. XfeU>ot, P. D., Kector of Christ Church, Indianapolis. 



[41] 

spirit is fit for theMaster's use;. What precious words 
tyre these he; utters, "I have had much sweet communion 
with my Savior since my dear Sam/s death, sitting in this 
old chair of mine — more in the last few months, than in 
as many years before. 'Flic Holy Spirit hath visited and 
comforted me, and J am resigned now to my son's death. 
I would not, if I could, bring him brack, for I believe that 
he is infinitely happy, and as for me, it is good that I have 
been afflicted." Well has the Apostle written, " We 
count them happy which endure." 

Dr. Wylie mourns at times that he has done so little — 
that he has not lived more for the good of his family and 
Others — says that if he had his Life to live over again, it 
should be more practical and useful, and is ready to cry 
out under a deep sense of his unprofitableness and neg- 
lects of duty. But still, he casts himself upon the mercy 
of Cod in (he Lord Jesus Christ, and finds peace and joy 
in believing. 

During his last days, a holy calm and a heavenly spirit 
reigned in his heart and life, the reflection and the harbin- 
ger of celestial light. The hot summer-day of toil and 
dusty conflict is passing away, and the flowers that have 
drooped under the burning rays of the meridian sun, lift 
up their faces for the baptism of the evening dew. Yea, 
the Hummer itself, with its fierce heats, its sudden gusts 
and [touring fains, gives place to mellow Autumn, when Na- 
ture is clothed with a chastened glory, and bountiful with 
kindly fruits, illumined with a gentler radiance, ere she 
sleeps in the snow-shroud of Wilder. Soon into the gar- 
ner of the Lord he will be gathered like a shock of corn 
fully ripe; 

Rome two weeks before his death, \)\\ Wylie, while en- 
gaged in his favorite exercise with the axe, cut his foot 
quite badly. But he will not intermit his duties, and 
limps to and from (lie College. Nine or ten days elapse, 
and on Friday he delivers, sitting, a long address to the 
Monroe County Agricultural Society; on retiring from 
(he Chapel, lie expresses his thankfulness, that he can 




[42] 

now have two days" rest — he shall, indeed, speedily find 
rest, that rest which .remaineth for the people of God. 
On Sunday, disease comes, but apparently in so mild a 
form as to awaken no anxiety in his mind, and he will 
not allow a physician to be sent for. On Monday, the dis- 
ease, Pneumonia, unmasks itself, and assails a constitu- 
tion weakened as I have just mentioned — the rapidly dilat- 
ing and contracting nostrils, the large chest struggling 
for breath, the panting respiration, the laboring heart, 
tell of a terrible struggle ; soon the dusky countenance, 
the oozing sweats, and the difficult utterance declare that 
neither Love nor Skill can avert a fatal issue. On Tues- 
day, Xovember 11th, 1851 — little more than forty-eight 
hours from the first onset of his sickness, Andrew Wylie 
died, and dying, asserted with his very last breath that Je- 
sus was precious to his soul. 

Such testimony in the death-agony, and crowning such 
a life, while it comforts and consoles those who loved him , 
should, above all, quicken us unto useful living, and to the 
attainment of the same unfaltering faith, that we too may 
look upon the terror-crowned King with firm and fear- 
less gaze, until sceptre and crown vanish in the dawning 
glories of Heaven. 



&i* 



*>, 



•* «08 



\J 



i u 



im 






,# x 



'7^ * - ft ^> *- . 









" 

p. 






W 4 












z - 



'.- **• 









^ ^ 


















111* 




